Jorge Ilich, a 26-year-old Venezuelan model who worked for the likes of underwear company Andrew Christian, has died in an apparent suicide.
Related: Death Of Adult Film Performer Dimitri Kane, 20, Ruled A Suicide
According to CBS, Ilich plunged off The Flamingo Towers in Miami Beach late Sunday evening.
Writing in Fashionably Male, Tom Peaks writes:
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He came to America with dreams from his native Venezuela. He wanted a better life. Jorge was smart. Degreed in architecture, he hoped to one day design skyscrapers. He loved urban architecture from Chicago and New York to Berlin and Paris. He had lived briefly in NYC. But, he wanted to pursue acting first. He took acting classes in Mexico and Miami. He also was committed to learning the English language and took classes in Miami to speak our language.
Related: 18-Year-Old Corbin Fisher Performer Commits Suicide After Firing Gun At Work
Friends and fans took to social media to offer their condolences:
Goodbye @jorge_ilich… Taken too quickly… You shall live within in from now on #RIP pic.twitter.com/RBx8Yx8jVO
— THEO FORD ™ (@THE_THEO_FORD) June 28, 2016
Rest In Peace @jorge_ilich 🙁
Such a beautiful , good and sweet heart person! So sad right now. pic.twitter.com/qQrycmuKor— Idan Matalon (@idanmat) June 28, 2016
RIP handsome. You’ll be missed @jorge_ilich ?? pic.twitter.com/EdtQG7Qwj2
— KeepItRiDGiD (@Keepit_RiDGid) June 28, 2016
RIP@jorge_ilich was a kind soul and under his good looks was a man of true gentleness. pic.twitter.com/3DmNSUrOvP
— RSH_Photo (@PhotoRSH) June 28, 2016
RIP @jorge_ilich
Gentleman and awesome man. pic.twitter.com/tvBvZ4PFBU— RSH_Photo (@PhotoRSH) June 28, 2016
Here’s his last Twitter message from June 10:
Everything is about love. pic.twitter.com/8GA6kebA7v
— Jorge ILich (@jorge_ilich) June 10, 2016
DCguy
Was he lgbt? If not, then will Queerty be running posts for (on average) all of the other 117 people that committed suicide the same day he did?
Sweetie Pie
Being pretty isn’t everything…
Stache
What’s telling about all his fans, friends, or whatevers is all they can say is how pretty he was. I’m pretty sure that I’d talk about my friends character rather then their appearance as a memorial to them. I guess that’s just me.
Stache
@DCguy: Yeah, I just went to a good Friends memorial last Saturday. He was actually gay. Of coarse he’s not young and pretty like this guy so not fitting enough for Queerty and their readers to care about.
Josh S
Gay people off themselves regularly. Why don’t you cover THEIR deaths as well? Not pretty enough to be faaaaabulously noteworthy?
Hussain-TheCanadian
It makes me wonder why did he give up on life like this; money, fame, beauty, the body, are all things we are told we should be running after, so why are so many who have those things are not happy?
DDstar1me
@Stache….well, when all you seem to offer the world is your looks it’s easy to understand why fans would only comment on that aspect. That being said, he was a very beautiful men. R.I.P
Stache
@DDstar1me: Yes. To anyone that cares check out his twitter. It’s not just that he was vain. It’s a desperate kind of vanity. He even jokes about it. I’m sure someone can interpret that as a reason in itself.
Doughosier
What a fool.
IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou
@Hussain-TheCanadian: Underwear models don’t get rich. The get his age and have to get a sugar daddy or go live with their parents for the rest of their lives.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@IDoNotHaveToAgreeWithYou: I thought it was a stepping stone to build a portfolio in modelling; he was 26, so really young. I wonder if something happened to him that pushed him to kill himself.
medcannabis1
the sad reality is another gay man committed suicide instead of being able to reach out to friends and tell them of his pain and suffering….
To see all the catty comments is sad…. yes he was an model beginning a career in a narcissistic world that is focused on all the wrong things….
May is family find comfort in their time of grief….
chuck
I had a gorgeous friend in the 1970s who also jumped to his death. Many people like them are still insecure. Sad and tragic…
seaguy
I ‘ll never understand suicide but to do it where you might have suffered at the end how awful. Jumping off a building isn’t always instant death. Hope he’s in a better place.
Paco
A terrible choice on how to permanently end your existence. How sad for the people he left behind.
@Hussain-TheCanadian: Happiness is a subjective point of view.
Stache
@seaguy: The bldg looks to be at least 10 stories. You wouldn’t have to worry about surviving. Balls for doing it. I’ll give him that.
galatians328
THE very alarming supposition from the many adoring blogs ‘in memoriam’ … is that we must ask … why they were not ‘adoring’ enough to be alert to signs of suicidality, and not ‘adoring’ enough to intervene? Yes, it is a very difficult thing to bring up, but go to a brief or long suicide prevention course, or a mental health first aid course, and anyone can be well equipped and prepared to ask the difficult question simply and directly: ‘I’m concerned about you. Have you been thinking of killing yourself?’ … just asking can intervene in the suicidal thinking … and can bring out issues and concerns that need discussion or support or attention. Since we KNOW – as medical fact – that HIGH PROPORTIONS of lgbtq attempt and complete suicide it is alarming isn’t it that most lgbtq don’t seek out simple training on suicide awareness and suicide prevention? The ‘father/founder’ of ‘LGBT Suicide Prevention hotline’ – Bernard Mayes – recently died (just a year ago). He had lived in out town and we had a lovely, festive memorial meal, per his wishes. Get involved with your local suicide prevention services, or do a simple course: mental health first aid, etc.
scotshot
If anyone asked me how I was and if I was thinking of suicide. Tactless and tacky. Spending time with a person might give a better view of their mood.
He may have suffered from depression which most times doesn’t express itself in a public way.
He BGB
There are so many beautiful people, gay guys, twinks, what have you, these days. In this narcissistic culture of selfies and videos and blogs. To stand out one has to have something special and different that others don’t have. Beauty only gets you so far.
VampDC
I feel bad because he’s a human.
But why the hell does he have an article written about him?! he poses half naked in his underwear?! Society today…smh.
seaguy
@Stache: In 2013 Someone jumped off the top of a 4 story parking garage right across the street from where I worked. So we totally saw the people who stopped and tried to give the guy CPR until the medics got there. He ended up dying but it was not quick and painless that is for sure.
Stache
@seaguy: Yeah, my luck I’d do it and end up a paraplegic. Kill me please someone.
I jumped out of plane for the first time a couple months ago. Bucket list shit. Before the chute opened I fell at least 10 stories worth. One of the most terrifying things I ever did and I had a parachute on. I just don’t know anyone can do something like that.
ErikO
I have no idea who this guy was until now but rest in peace. Why did he kill himself?
o.codone
Nobody cares. People off themselves every day. Seriously, does this really matter to anyone here?
Dave Downunder
I’ve never heard of him or Andrew Christian. I assumed he was a porn star and Andrew Christian was a porn label.
Imperialist
It is always sad that someone is in so much pain that they prefer dying to continue on this earth. But, really, he wasn’t all that hot and starting a modeling career at 26 is pretty old, even for a male. And, if this guy were a bus driver from Oshkosh would we even be hearing about it?
Curtispsf
@medcannabis1: Thank you for a thoughtful comment. NO death is insignificant. The truly sad thing is that he was suffering and unable to reach out to someone who might have cared. RIP.
Kangol
@Curtispsf: I agree.
Stache
@o.codone: Yeah, Queerty is really stretching relevancy here. Lets see. 1. Hot guy who worked for 2. Andrew Christian (a gay company) a while ago. Well, that’s good enough for us. Lol
I just look at this as a post about suicide. Everyone has either thought of it or knew someone who did.
dwes09
@Stache: A few years ago a very old friend (my oldest friend in SF who I’d met in ’72 before either of us moved here) killed himself by jumping off the GG Bridge. The few survivors say they regretted the act the instant they left the railing. Knowing that just tore me up inside. He was well known in town and there was the expected flowers, pictures and postings on the bank wall at 18th and Castro. I cannot imagine anything more awful than those 1.5-2 seconds of knowing the huge mistake you have made.
This is the toll of depression, making the unpleasant or challenging seem insurmountable.
dwes09
@o.codone: “Nobody cares. People off themselves every day. Seriously, does this really matter to anyone here?”
People care enough to have read and commented on the article. Even you troll, though in your case it was simply to see if you could cause upset. Perhaps you need to take a couple of the pills you like enough to name yourself after, and follow that with a glass of wine or two. Perhaps that might dull your bitterness for a bit.
Malcolm Forest
I don’t care what this person’s sexuality may have been. It is sad that he committed suicide. From what I can tell he had a good life ahead of him. No idea of his personal demons that drove him to this, and I doubt it will ever be revealed.
Markajv
@Sweetie Pie: AMEN! But Sad for ANYONE suffering a mental illness that brings them to this point.
Markajv
Very sad to hear as it is for every person in the world that feels there is no way out other than to take your own life. I know, I have been there and , luckily , with the help of a friend, was saved. I am glad to be alive today. The PAIN and ANGER I would have cause seo many people is clear to me now. Not then, but now. I hope if the signs of mental illness rear their ugly head that people get help asap. On a lighter note….HOW does an “Underwear Model” have “Fans” Is that a thing? What are you a fan of? I need to get out the Sears Wishbook and see what I am missing.
Markajv
@seaguy: Oh look who it is!! The asshat from YouTube! WOW you are all over the place aren’t you?? Still looking for that job with Treasure Island Media? Still like to PnP? Cause that’s healthy. PEACE! to you. I hope you find what you are looking for. I hope your HATE has simmered down a bit.
Markajv
@Dave Downunder: Andrew Christian makes really GAY underwear that all the PORN ho’s wear in films to make some extra cash. The underwear serves NO purpose because the designs are RIDICKULOUS!! It’s “Modeling” underwear.
jhon_siders
id not say all of there products are just for films I own some of there stuff that’s ok for every day wear .
vonlmo
Oh get off this lonely on the inside rubbish. He most likely was high on some great drugs that made him go wiggy. Just like the model who tore up Times Square bleachers recently
jhon_siders
He was a cute kid I bet he was doing drugs and out of his mind sad